Rookie D Stefan Elliott likely to stick with Avalanche

A day after leading the Avalanche to a comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in his NHL debut, rookie defenseman Stefan Elliott participated in his first practice with the team since training camp. Colorado coach Joe Sacco didn’t exactly suggest Elliott is here to stay, but the coach certainly didn’t make it seem like Elliott would be sent back to the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League anytime soon.

Elliott, 20, was recalled from Lake Erie on Friday night and played extremely well against the Oilers. He was noticeable throughout the game, making terrific long passes, jumping up from the blue line to sustain an attack in Edmonton’s zone, breaking up a couple Oilers’ odd-man rushes in the Avalanche end, and ultimately scoring the game-winning goal with a skillful long wrist shot through traffic.

If Elliott continues to play well, he will continue to play for the Avalanche. If he’s scratched a time or two, he won’t be out of the lineup long. And when defenseman Erik Johnson (groin) is activated from IR, it sounds like the Avs might keep eight defensemen (they have had 14 forwards, seven D and two goalies on the 23-man roster).

“I don’t want a player at that age sitting in the stands and watching. But his play will dictate that,” Sacco said of Elliott. “If he is ever out of the lineup, it won’t be long. Because, like I said, we don’t want him standing around. He certainly made an impact in his first game, in a very positive way, but as we go from here, it’s about being consistent throughout the whole year. So let’s see where he goes after the first game.”

When Johnson is activated, Sacco said: “At that point we should have eight healthy defensemen, and we’ll have to make some hard decisions at that time, as far as who’s in the lineup and who’s not in the lineup. Just like always, it will be based on merit. The guys that are playing well that deserve to stay in the lineup will deserve to be in there. We’ll figure it out as we go along.”

Defenseman Matt Hunwick has played in just two games, but he’s probably not a candidate to be sent to Lake Erie, because he’ll have to first clear waivers, so the Avs would risk losing him for nothing. Elliott is the Avs’ only defensemen who is in his entry-level contract, and can go back-and-forth without clearing waivers. I seriously doubt the Avs would try to send any other defenseman to Lake Erie.

Here is Elliott talking today about the night of his extraordinary debut. (By the way, he is the first Colorado defenseman to score a goal in his NHL debut, and the first Avalanche player to do it since forward Vaclav Nedorost scored Oct. 3, 2001 at Pittsburgh):

Sacco will have to make some “hard decisions” when Johnson comes back. Has he not been watching the play of Johnson and Hejda? The only hard decision I can think of is who will replace Hejda.

While I greatly appreciate Elliott’s performance last night, I feel the goal by O’Brien changed the attitiude of the team and the fans last night. I could actually feel a physical change in the place. I just hope it carries over into the future. A monkey off their backs, for sure.

Yikes. Leave it to the Avs to once again rush a player into the NHL who clearly needs more seasoning. Just because you have one game where you score doesn’t mean anything. We all saw Landeskog get off to a fast start, and he has been close to worthless since (including last night.)

We’ve also seen Matt Duchene suffer from not playing an extra year in juniors and then not spending another season in the AHL. Fast start in his rookie year and he has faded since.

The Avs refuse to develop players the right way. Guess that’s that happens when you’re a team with a dwindling fan base. You get desperate, and that eventually leads to major problems in player development.

Dude this isn’t baseball. We don’t need to be sending playings through the minor league systems like it is. And are you actually suggesting that Matt Duchene who led the Avs in scoring and made the NHL all star game should have been playing in the AHL last year? Get real dude. And Landeskog will be fine. He would be worthless playing Jrs again. He would have been able to bully his way through Jrs because he would of been playing against 16 year old kids. He wouldn’t have developed at all.

Rush a player? He’s 20 for crying out loud, he played 5 years in the toughest junior league in the world and was a standout the whole time. He also played in the playoffs for Lake Erie last year. As for Landeskog, Steve Spott his coach was so sure Landeskog was ready for the NHL he gave his roster spot away, since OHL teams can only carry two imports. Every scout called him the most NHL ready prospect in the draft and the Avs scouts agreed, with Steve Spott, who’s had his job for years and seen such players as Mike Richards go through his system, said he didn’t need to spend one day in the AHL. As for your comments on Duchene, he had seven points his first 21 games as a rookie, you call that a fast start? Let’s not write off Landeskog or Duchene just yet. In any case, Duchene was at the point where more time in junior served him no purpose. Talent and development wise it would’ve been useless to keep him in Brampton.

Dude, to call Landeskog “close to worthless” is not only one of the most ridiculous statements to think to yourself, but to actually write it here on this board is a whole other story! Just because the kid (he’s only 19 years old) hasn’t scored 50 goals thus far in the season, hardly renders him as “close to worthless”. Have you not been reading or listening to what players, coaches, scouts, analysts and journalists are saying about his on-ice production? They’re saying that RIGHT NOW he’s one of the best players on the ice and he barely turned 19 yrs old last week. I think you need to pay more attention to what he’s actually doing out there on the ice and stop expecting him to score a boat-load of goals in his first season, because he’s not going to be the game changer in the scoring capacity, but he will definitely continue to impact this team not just this year, but for years to come.

Your Hockey sense flew out the window on Duchene as well. Duchy is doing just fine and has been since his arrival to Denver. To suggest that he would have been better off playing in Lake Erie for a year or two makes absolutely no sense whatsoever! Ask anyone who knows anything about Hockey and ask them if Duchy would have been better served to play in the AHL as opposed to the NHL and see what they all say. Don’t take my word for it, go ahead and ask ’em! When you’re done asking that question, take a look at what else people are saying about the goals he’s scored in the month of Nov because he won the 5th spot as well as the #1 goal for the entire month, against very good Veterans around the league.

Eliott needs to go back to the Monsters. The Avs aren’t going to compete for anything but last place in the West. Let Elliott develop in the AHL, and then he’ll be better prepared when the Avs are actually a decent team again in 3-4 years. He’s wasted on the NHL roster, because when Johnson returns, Elliott will only be able to get 8-10 minutes a night, whereas in L.E., he’ll get 25+ mins per game.

I think the Avs should play the dirty physical hard to play against style, call up Malone and Van der Gulik, send down Galiardi, Porter, Wilson is a Monster at D, all the teams are aware about him now, Taylor Hall got the medecine last night! Wilson, Quincey, O’Brien, Jonhson, Elliot, O’Byrne, that is the D-Line up for the Avs, Hejda, Hunwick, Scratch

The fact that anyone would suggest that Duchene is fading is completely ridiculous, the guy gets off to slow starts. These things happen, its amazing how fast people forget that he was an all star last year and has more career points than John Tavares who was drafted #1 in that class (139-137). What possible argument can be made that Duchene or Landeskog weren’t ready for the pros? Landy has been a little careless at times but isn’t that how all rookies are? If you can somehow make a case for this then how would Ryan O’Reilly not be included in this as well? 26 points in each of his first two seasons doesn’t seem overly stellar. Don’t argue that he is a great 2-way player because he is a -5 right now.

The problem doesn’t lie with the teams talent, there is plenty of that in the system. Sure, we might have to tough out this year but management and coaching are the problems. Stupid trades have plagued the Avalanche in the past two years and Sherman is the only one to blame for that one. Thank goodness Sakic is learning the ropes because the team is getting killed by ridiculous trades. As for coaching, has Sacco left the lines the same way back to back nights yet? How are the young players supposed to have chemistry if they aren’t even sure who they are going to be playing with the next night. Stop micro managing the lines and let the boys play, they have skill so let them use it and see where it goes. I’m not guaranteeing the results will be better, but can they really get that much worse?

He got them going for a while – it just seems like the Caps players tuned him out eventually. He could be a solution in the short term at least, right? The Caps were a really good team for a while under Boudreau.

Bench Johnson and Hejda… they are awful. I watch Johnson let guys slip in behind him and score every night he’s on the ice. He just looks lost. Plus, where has he been on offense. I’m sorry, but his assists are marginal at best and he really doesn’t offer much at either end of the ice. He skates well and that’s it. He isn’t even that physical.

The Avs will not bench these guys, EJ being the big asset from the Stewie trade and Hejda being their free agent signing who is signed for 4 years! Both guys have not been playing well but it is way to early to give up on Johnson, let him work it out. As for Hejda, not sure what to do there.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.